The unusually low ratings for TVB’s costume
drama Beauty at War has been among the talking points in Hong
Kong over the past couple of weeks. But against the mainstream view
I decided to chase this TV series, which is rather unusual for me. I seldom
watch TVB dramas, but I was drawn to this one not only because this is
supposedly a sequel (or a part II, whatever you call it) of the hugely
successful period drama series War and Beauty (2004) by producer Jonathan Chik
and Chow Yuk-ming. This show touches upon one very important issue in modern day
society: controlling public opinion.

As mentioned briefly in my previous blog
post I don’t get it, the show, set in the Qing Dynasty’s Jiaqing period (1796 –
1820) evolving around the politics and scheming among the ladies trapped in
palace Forbidden City, draws lukewarm response because the majority of TV
audience (i.e. housewives) found it too complex to follow – people just don’t
get it.

The prime-time show has achieved a low 19
rating points – an equivalent to slightly more than 1 million TV audiences as
compared to the normal 30 rating points. Audiences blame the show for carrying too
many intertwining subplots, the characters’ lack of charm, and they have to
chase the subtitles as the lines are spoken in rather classical Chinese as compared
to daily spoken Cantonese. There was even an online poll in Commercial Radio
asking people to vote whether TVB should axe the series before it ends.

Princess Shun, a concubine of deceased emperor Qianlong, acts as ifshe falls for Kunju actor Ko in order to trick her sister Princess Yue, whomshe hates to the guts

This was a stark contrast to War and Beauty,
which earned acclaims from both critics and audiences when it was aired in 2004.
Rounds of applause were given for the complex storyline evolving around the politics
of the Forbidden City, resembling today’s
office politics.

Nine years later, the duo came up with
Beauty at War. But instead of being a story simply about scheming and political
struggle among the princesses and servants, Beauty at War is more conceptual. One
audience made a very good point in TVB forum: “This show evolves around creating
rumours and spreading rumours, but what it really wants to address is the
importance of controlling and directing public opinion.”

All the incidents in the show are driven by
rumours, and they are concluded by other rumours. Rumours are circulated inside
and outside of Forbidden City through an
audience that are hungry for entertainment but never question their validity. And
after a while, people will start believing these rumours, and even the most
fabricated stories will eventually become real. Then different people holding
different positions are taking advantages all the way through.

Isn’t it the same as today’s society?

Thus the focus is not about scheming and
politics. As a media person, what I learn in this show is how people in charge must
rely on public opinion to maintain its authorities over the public. Those who
want to challenge the authorities also need the help from the media in order to
put pressure on the authorities.

Ladies in waiting caught in between the fights of their masters

Thus the media gets tipped off from time to
time. The government, politicians or ambitious businessmen like to get together
with the media on a regular basis. They want to make friends with us? Don’t be
so naïve. They only hope the media to help spreading a few nice words – the
government can get more public support for policies, or businessmen can
maximise their profits by creating a better image through the media. Politicians
who want to sabotage some unfair public policies or the opposite camp also use
the same method by tipping off the media about the dodgy secrets of their
opponents.

Thus all these political debates that we
see in the media are no difference from the kind of rumours being spread around
in Beauty at War. Someone exposed the West Kowloon Cultural
District's extreme over budget (as cost has gone up from HK$21.6 billion to a
reportedly HK$47.6 billion) to the media to get the public to slam on the arts hub project. Art Basel Hong Kong is branded as a catalyst for
arts and culture when in fact it is a massive trade fair dressed up as a
cultural event. Paul McCarthy’s Complex Pile inflatable sculpture is a piece of
shit because people have said so. As the rumour mill goes around, the majority
of the audience with a mediocre intelligence are no different from the palace maids
and eunuchs in Beauty at War – they will keep spreading the rumours around
without asking any questions.

What I am afraid is that I am probably more
or less the same as the maids and eunuchs who thought they were smart to
volunteer for their masters to spread the rumours and manipulate people's minds. Such kind of work will get
them no where, and certainly won’t bring them much luck.

2 comments:

I'm hoping this gets to you in time, I'm reaching out from Monocle 24, a radio station in London in the UK. We're doing a story on Art Basel in Hong Kong tomorrow morning at 8.10 am London time, and was wondering if you would be free for a 5-10 minute phone interview. We're trying to get someone who can join us, think that you'll be quite suitable as an art journalist. Let me know ASAP if you can make it.

Miss Vivienne Chow

Vivienne Chow is a HK-based writer and was named one of the world's best young journalists while representing HK at the inaugural Berlinale Talent Press in 2004 at the Berlin International Film Festival. She has written extensively on culture locally and abroad including the South China Morning Post, Variety, Film Journal International, Cultural Vision, Orientations and Cultured Magazine. She often speaks publicly and commenting on HK and China cultural affairs in the media. In 2014 Vivienne co-founded Cultural Journalism Campus, a non-profit educational initiative to promote cultural journalism and art criticism that she co-organised with Arts in Heritage Research in association with Goethe-Institut Hongkong.
She is currently Senior Reporter, Cultural Affairs, at the South China Morning Post. She holds a master degree in cultural studies researching Hong Kong cultural policy with HKU. She recently contributed an essay to "Creativity and Culture in Contemporary Greater China", a new book published by Bridge21 Publications.